Old Cars Are The New Teen Killers Says A Research Report

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In what could be termed as surprising and eye-opening, a latest study published in the journal ‘Injury Prevention,’ has concluded that a major reason for the deaths of teen drivers are the vehicles they were driving.

This conclusion was reached by Anne T McCartt and Eric R Teoh, the two authors who published the article in the journal, ‘Injury Medicine.’ The lead author Anne T McCartt heads the Department of Research at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

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The lead author, Dr. McCartt observed that, “almost half of teenage drivers killed on US roads in the past few years were driving vehicles that were 11 or more years old and often lacked key safety features.” So parents will be putting their children in danger if they pass to them their decade old wheels.

This danger arises from the fact that the older vehicles may not have important safety features, like Electronic Stability Control, or the kind of tech wiring that is present in today’s vehicles, the researchers noted. The researchers also found out that the size of the car being driven also had an important role in the fatalities, as the ‘larger heavier vehicles provide much better protection than smaller vehicles.

The researchers also came across a usage discrepancy as teens were found to be driving small or mini sized cars as compared to adults, and consequently fatality rates for teen drivers was much higher.

For the study, the researchers obtained data from the US based Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), for the period of 2008-2012. The researchers utilized the available data regarding vehicle fatalities involving 2,420 teen drivers between the ages of 15-17 and compared the type, size and age of vehicles driven by them with those driven by middle aged drivers between the ages of 35-50.

About Sara Rose

She has spent the past 4 years playing the role of an IT consultant, and has now joined The Next Digit as a full time blogger. Her current profession is a result of her deep experience in computer gadgets, laptops, gaming accessories and other tech updates.